Earnings from information communications technology (ICT) services and products grew strongly this year after rising sharply last year.

ICT and BPO (business process outsourcing) exports shot up 47 percent to 310 million US dollars in 2010-11 from the year before and will remain strong, a new survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers said.

The sector has 175 firms employing 16,000 people, which is expected to grow as more foreign investment comes in, said Janaka Ratnayake, Chairman of the Export Development Board.

The growth rate should enable the ICT and ITES (information technology enabled services) sector to reach a billion dollars in export earnings before 2015, he told a news conference.

Mano Sekaram, chairman of the EDB's advisory committee for the ICT and BPO sectors, said the PwC survey of 175 firms was needed to find out how the sector was performing.

The PwC survey report said the IT export industry earned 250 million dollars while BPOs earned 60 million dollars in 2010-11, up from 161 million dollars and 48 million dollars the year before.

The main markets for ICT exports are Europe, USA, and south Asia while the main markets for BPOs are the US, Europe, Canada and mature Asian countries.

The officials said the industry expects to maintain the growth momentum although economic crises in key markets might reduce the growth rates from existing high levels.

However, IT sector export earnings were on track to reach the target of a billion dollars by 2015, Export Development Board Chairman said.